World powers involved in negotiating last year's landmark nuclear deal with Tehran must "take immediate punitive action'' against Iran after the latter conducted ballistic missile test last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
"They must take immediate punitive steps following the repeated gross transgressions by Iran in the matter of rockets,'' Netanyahu said in a statement issued on Saturday, according to Fox News. "This would test the world's powers ability to enforce the nuclear agreement.''
The call was issued amid reports that Iran is preparing to launch a new long-range rocket into space. According to U.S officials, any test of a new ballistic missile would be a direct violation of a U.N. resolution forbidding Iran from working on its rocket programme.
"The U.S. will raise the issue during a closed door Security Council meeting next week,'' U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power said, adding that countries must cooperate on undermining Iran's missile programme.
Just recently, Iran launched multiple ballistic missiles in one day for the first time since 2012 despite mandated provisions in the U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231 that says Iran "is not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology."
The U.S. State Department clarified that the launches last week were not in violation of the nuclear deal, but "inconsistent" with U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which was tied to the nuclear deal when it went into effect, Fox News said.
A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander said Thursday that Iran's ballistic missile programme will continue to move forward despite threats of international sanctions.
U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, while meeting Netanyahu Wednesday, did not acknowledge the missile launch directly, but issued a strong warning to Iran if it continues to be stubborn.
"A nuclear-armed Iran is an absolutely unacceptable threat to Israel, to the region and the United States. And I want to reiterate which I know people still doubt here: If in fact they break the deal, we will act," he said.
